Nicola Micali, PhD
Associate Research Scientist in NeuroscienceCards
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Associate Research Scientist in Neuroscience
Biography
Dr. Micali is associate research scientist in Rakic lab. He received his Master Degree in Biology from the State University of Lecce-Italy in 2002, and then his Ph.D in Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology from the State University of Milan-Italy in 2006. From 2003 to 2008, he worked at the Molecular Genetics unit led by Professor Francesco Blasi, at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan). He was interested in studying the role of TALE transcription factors (Pbx, Prep and Meis) in controlling cell survival and proliferation genes during mammalian development, using mouse and human “diseased” genetics models, such as Down Syndrome patient derived cells, and cancer cells. In 2008, as post-doc fellow, Dr. Micali joined Professor Pier Paolo Di Fiore's lab, at IFOM Istitute, Milan, where he worked on the role of Notch signaling in breast cancer. From 2010 to 2017, Dr. Micali received a post-doctoral training in molecular neurodevelopmental biology at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD), Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore-USA. Here, he worked in Dr. Ronald McKay's lab on modeling corticogenesis in vitro and defining the cellular and transcriptional dynamics as human neural stem cells (NSCs) progress throughout neurogenesis. At LIBD, Dr. Micali studied the key molecular steps that control the generation of functional cortical neurons from NSCs derived from fetal mouse and human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), and the regulatory events that during corticogenesis control the different developmental neural lineages. Major interest was dedicated to understand the role of fate determinant molecules, such as FGF2, BMPs and WNTs in specifying NSC states and neurogenesis. Dr. Micali has also been involved in projects to define and systematically analyze developmental variation in multiple hPSC lines. He collaborated with AstraZeneca Neuroscience in a genetic study to screen schizophrenia patient specific iPSC derived neurons. In this pipeline, he was directly involved in the development of new cellular assays. From July 2017, Dr. Micali is in Professor Pasko Rakic's lab, where he is continuing to study the regulatory mechanisms of radial glial cell (RGC) specification, in particular cortical area specification (frontal vs occipital and dorsal vs ventral forebrain RGC specification) and zone specificity (VZ vs SVZ and CP). Dr. Micali is working to identify new neuronal subtype precursors during the development of neocortex in rodents, non-human primates (NHP) and humans. His current focus is on the identification and characterization of the cellular and transcriptional dynamics underlying the species-specific differences in corticogenesis.
Appointments
Neuroscience
Associate Research ScientistPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Post-doctoral fellow
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development-Johns Hopkins Medical school (2010-2017) (2017)
- PhD
- State University of Milan-Italy, San Raffaele Scientific Institute (2006)
- MSc
- State University of Lecce-Italy, Biology
Research
Overview
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
ORCID
0009-0002-2936-4708
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Publications Timeline
Research Interests
Suel-Kee Kim
Alvaro Duque, PhD
Anita Huttner, MD
Juan Arellano, PhD
Nenad Sestan, MD, PhD
Pasko Rakic, MD, PhD
Neural Stem Cells
Neurons
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Mental Disorders
Embryo, Mammalian
Publications
Featured Publications
A Curated Compendium of Transcriptomic Data for the Exploration of Neocortical Development.
Sonthalia S, Li G, Blanco XM, Casella A, Liu J, Stein-O'Brien G, Caffo B, Adkins S, Orvis J, Hertzano R, Mahurkar A, Gillis JA, Werner J, Ma S, Micali N, Sestan N, Rakic P, Baro GS, Ament SA, Colantuoni C. A Curated Compendium of Transcriptomic Data for the Exploration of Neocortical Development. BioRxiv 2024 PMID: 38464021, DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.26.581612.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchIndividual variation in the emergence of anterior-to-posterior neural fates from human pluripotent stem cells
Kim S, Seo S, Stein-O’Brien G, Jaishankar A, Ogawa K, Micali N, Luria V, Karger A, Wang Y, Kim H, Hyde T, Kleinman J, Voss T, Fertig E, Shin J, Bürli R, Cross A, Brandon N, Weinberger D, Chenoweth J, Hoeppner D, Sestan N, Colantuoni C, McKay R. Individual variation in the emergence of anterior-to-posterior neural fates from human pluripotent stem cells. Stem Cell Reports 2024, 19: 1336-1350. PMID: 39151428, PMCID: PMC11411333, DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2024.07.004.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricConceptsHuman pluripotent stem cellsEarly mammalian developmentConsequences of variationPluripotent stem cellsTranscriptomic variationMammalian developmentTranscriptomic patternsTranscriptomic traitsReplicate linesMesendodermal lineagesNeural fateAdult tissuesLineagesHindbrain fateTranscriptional signatureTranscriptomic signaturesEarly eventLineage biasHuman pluripotent stem cell linesStem cellsFateIndividual variationAnterior to posterior structuresEpigenetic originCellsEarly Developmental Origins of Cortical Disorders Modeled in Human Neural Stem Cells.
Mato-Blanco X, Kim SK, Jourdon A, Ma S, Tebbenkamp ATN, Liu F, Duque A, Vaccarino FM, Sestan N, Colantuoni C, Rakic P, Santpere G, Micali N. Early Developmental Origins of Cortical Disorders Modeled in Human Neural Stem Cells. BioRxiv 2024 PMID: 38915580, DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.14.598925.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2023
Molecular programs of regional specification and neural stem cell fate progression in macaque telencephalon
Micali N, Ma S, Li M, Kim S, Mato-Blanco X, Sindhu S, Arellano J, Gao T, Shibata M, Gobeske K, Duque A, Santpere G, Sestan N, Rakic P. Molecular programs of regional specification and neural stem cell fate progression in macaque telencephalon. Science 2023, 382: eadf3786. PMID: 37824652, PMCID: PMC10705812, DOI: 10.1126/science.adf3786.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and Concepts
2021
Radial Glial Cells: New Views on Old Questions
Arellano JI, Morozov YM, Micali N, Rakic P. Radial Glial Cells: New Views on Old Questions. Neurochemical Research 2021, 46: 2512-2524. PMID: 33725233, PMCID: PMC8855517, DOI: 10.1007/s11064-021-03296-z.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsGlial fibrillary acidic proteinRadial glial cellsNeuroepithelial cellsGFAP expressionFibrillary acidic proteinMigration of neuronsProcess of neurogenesisGlial featuresGlial cellsEmbryonic cerebrumCortical neurogenesisMacaque monkeysPial surfaceAcidic proteinEpithelial featuresBrain developmentNeurogenesisVentricular surfaceTight junctionsCerebrumNeuronsUltrastructural analysisFirst descriptionBrainVertebrate brain
2020
Variation of Human Neural Stem Cells Generating Organizer States In Vitro before Committing to Cortical Excitatory or Inhibitory Neuronal Fates
Micali N, Kim SK, Diaz-Bustamante M, Stein-O’Brien G, Seo S, Shin JH, Rash BG, Ma S, Wang Y, Olivares NA, Arellano JI, Maynard KR, Fertig EJ, Cross AJ, Bürli RW, Brandon NJ, Weinberger DR, Chenoweth JG, Hoeppner DJ, Sestan N, Rakic P, Colantuoni C, McKay RD. Variation of Human Neural Stem Cells Generating Organizer States In Vitro before Committing to Cortical Excitatory or Inhibitory Neuronal Fates. Cell Reports 2020, 31: 107599. PMID: 32375049, PMCID: PMC7357345, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107599.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsNeural stem cellsNeuronal fateProliferative neural stem cellsStem cellsPluripotent linesTelencephalic fateRNA sequencingLineage tracingHuman neural stem cellsGlutamatergic excitatory neuronsMonkey brain sectionsNeuronal trajectoriesCell imagingCortical excitatoryCerebral cortexFateExcitatory neuronsBrain sectionsHuman telencephalonNeuropsychiatric disordersAcute transitionPluripotencyCellsCortexSequencingDissecting transcriptomic signatures of neuronal differentiation and maturation using iPSCs
Burke EE, Chenoweth JG, Shin JH, Collado-Torres L, Kim SK, Micali N, Wang Y, Colantuoni C, Straub RE, Hoeppner DJ, Chen HY, Sellers A, Shibbani K, Hamersky GR, Diaz Bustamante M, Phan BN, Ulrich WS, Valencia C, Jaishankar A, Price AJ, Rajpurohit A, Semick SA, Bürli RW, Barrow JC, Hiler DJ, Page SC, Martinowich K, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Berman KF, Apud JA, Cross AJ, Brandon NJ, Weinberger DR, Maher BJ, McKay RDG, Jaffe AE. Dissecting transcriptomic signatures of neuronal differentiation and maturation using iPSCs. Nature Communications 2020, 11: 462. PMID: 31974374, PMCID: PMC6978526, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-14266-z.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsHuman induced pluripotent stem cellsNeural precursor cellsExpression dataSingle-cell expression dataNeuronal differentiationSequencing read alignmentsInduced pluripotent stem cellsEarly neuronal differentiationPluripotent stem cellsTranscriptomic resourcesIPSC donorNeuronal culturesSubclonal linesNeural differentiationTranscriptomic signaturesHuman neural precursor cellsNeuronal cellsStem cellsPrecursor cellsCell sortingGlobal patternsPowerful modelSubset of neuronsRead alignmentDifferentiation
2019
Gliogenesis in the outer subventricular zone promotes enlargement and gyrification of the primate cerebrum
Rash BG, Duque A, Morozov YM, Arellano JI, Micali N, Rakic P. Gliogenesis in the outer subventricular zone promotes enlargement and gyrification of the primate cerebrum. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2019, 116: 7089-7094. PMID: 30894491, PMCID: PMC6452694, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1822169116.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsOuter subventricular zoneSubventricular zoneWhite matterCompletion of neurogenesisSuperficial layers IISubcortical white matterUnderlying white matterProduction of astrocytesRadial glial cellsElaboration of dendritesCortical surface areaSuperficial neuronsCerebral neuronsCortical connectionsGlial cellsCerebral convolutionsDay 90Layers IIFormation of convolutionsMacaque monkeysRapid enlargementCerebrumNeuronal growthNeuronsEmbryonic day 90
2018
Metabolic regulation and glucose sensitivity of cortical radial glial cells
Rash BG, Micali N, Huttner AJ, Morozov YM, Horvath TL, Rakic P. Metabolic regulation and glucose sensitivity of cortical radial glial cells. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2018, 115: 10142-10147. PMID: 30224493, PMCID: PMC6176632, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1808066115.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsRadial glial cellsGlial cellsRGC fibersCortical radial glial cellsEmbryonic cortical slicesGestational obesityCerebral cortexCortical slicesMetabolic disturbancesCortical neurogenesisMetabolic supportBrain disordersAcute lossMitochondrial transportBrain developmentIntracellular CaPotential mechanismsHyperglycemiaMitochondrial functionGlucose sensitivityMiceStem cellsPrimary stem cellsPhysiological mechanismsCells
2014
FGF2 and Insulin Signaling Converge to Regulate Cyclin D Expression in Multipotent Neural Stem Cells
Adepoju A, Micali N, Ogawa K, Hoeppner DJ, McKay RD. FGF2 and Insulin Signaling Converge to Regulate Cyclin D Expression in Multipotent Neural Stem Cells. Stem Cells 2014, 32: 770-778. PMID: 24155149, DOI: 10.1002/stem.1575.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsMeSH KeywordsAnimalsCell ProliferationCyclin DDNAFemaleFibroblast Growth Factor 2InsulinIntracellular SpaceMiceMice, Inbred C57BLModels, BiologicalMultipotent Stem CellsNeural Stem CellsProtein BiosynthesisProto-Oncogene Proteins c-fosProto-Oncogene Proteins c-junSignal TransductionTranscription, GeneticConceptsNeural stem cellsMultipotent neural stem cellsStem cellsPost-transcriptional levelPI3K/Akt pathwayTyrosine kinase receptorsPhosphorylation of ERK1/2Cell statesInsulin signalProliferation controlCell lineagesFibroblast growth factorBasic fibroblast growth factorCyclin D expressionMultipotent cellsC-JunD mRNA levelsKinase receptorsNeural precursorsAkt pathwayCell expansionMultipotent natureCentral nervous systemDisease mechanismsC-fos
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
activity Cerebral Cortex
Journal ServiceReviewerDetailsOfficial Peer Reviewer07/01/2017 - Present